We’ve Got A File On You features interviews in which artists share the stories behind the extracurricular activities that dot their careers: acting gigs, guest appearances, random internet ephemera, etc.

Almost as soon as Finn Wolfhard found success as one of the stars of Stranger Things, he revealed himself to be both a musician and a passionate fan of many great bands. Music has been woven into the Vancouver native’s acting career since even before that breakout role, and he has kicked up his own racket as a member of the bands Calpurnia and the Aubreys, his duo with Calpurnia drummer Malcolm Craig. Now, he’s reached a new milestone, releasing his debut solo album.

Happy Birthday, released last Friday, finds Wolfhard in lo-fi guitar-pop mode. Emerging from an effort to write 50 songs in a year, the project channels cult classics from Guided By Voices to Big Star, affirming Wolfhard, 22, as both an accomplished songwriter and a man of taste. He recorded most of its nine tracks with co-producer Kai Slater of Lifeguard, whose own solo project Sharp Pins is a close cousin to what Wolfhard is doing here.

In a call several months back, Wolfhard discussed the new LP, his upcoming tour with the Slaps as his backing band, his appearances in music videos for PUP and Weezer, some cringeworthy musical stunts with his Stranger Things costars, his friendship with Mac DeMarco, and more.

Making Solo Debut Album Happy Birthday With Kai Slater Of Lifeguard/Sharp Pins (2025)

I understand this album came out of a challenge to yourself to write 50 songs in a year, back in 2022. Where did that idea come from?

FINN WOLFHARD: I don’t know. Honestly, I think it came just from a real [desire] to just give myself motivation to start writing a lot more. And I wanted to get better at writing and write more frequently. So that was more of a bet that I made myself, I guess, early on in the year because I wanted to write more.

Did you try to do different genres and styles within that challenge, or were there any parameters that you set on it?

WOLFHARD: Not really. Yeah, there’s not really many parameters. I used a bunch of different instruments and stuff, but usually it all had a similar kind of recording style or singer-songwriter type, indie rock twinge to it. So I never experimented and did any, like, dance music or anything like that during it, but I definitely tried out a bunch of different musical equipment and different synthesizers and stuff like that.

Some of the songs went to the Aubreys. Is that band still a going concern?

WOLFHARD: The Aubreys are still a band, and we’re still planning on doing a record. It just has been like hard for both of our schedules because Malcolm has been in school. He’s graduating this year. I’ve been sort of all around the world, so. But yeah, eventually we’ll definitely make an Aubreys record.

So is this a solo album just because of logistics, or is it a solo album because it felt like this one should be a solo album?

WOLFHARD: A bit of both, I think. The more I was writing, the more personal and singular it felt, all these songs, so I wanted to do something solo and experiment a little bit on my own as well. So it was logistical, but it was also one of those things where I just had all these songs and thought they might be better suited not in the Aubreys, and maybe something solo for just me.

In terms of actually making the album, what was the setup like?

WOLFHARD: Some songs are recorded by myself, but most of the record, I co-produced with Kai Slater, who is in the band Sharp Pins and Lifeguard. He’s out of Chicago, and we recorded a lot to four-track cassette tape and eight-track cassette tape, and would record from either Kai’s apartment or his practice space in Chicago. And then at the end of the recording process, we recorded at the Palisade studio to track a few things and do some overdubs. Through the whole time I had people play on it and help. There’s a few songs that are just me and Kai playing, and there’s a few songs where it’s just me playing, and then there’s a few songs also where I got just amazing local talent in Chicago, who are amazing musicians and have amazing bands, that just came in and were able to play some fun music with me.

Your album definitely fits in with the Sharp Pins album. You both have that Guided By Voices influence. It feels like a lot of the exciting indie rock artists from your generation — be it like that Lifeguard/Horsegirl scene out of Chicago or the Wednesday/MJ Linderman scene in Asheville or whatever — it feels like a lot have been taking more influence from that kind of pre-Y2K indie rock era, like the ’80s and ’90s. What about that time in music appeals to you?

WOLFHARD: I don’t know, there’s something like less produced about those records that just make it feel more authentic and messy and reminds you just a bit about what it is to be a person. Because sometimes you have stuff that’s so overproduced and crazy. Recording songs on tape, I think, brings out that sort of non-perfectionist side of yourself because you have to be OK with crazy sounds, and you’re leaning into takes and stitching stuff together and really making it sort of handmade. And I feel like that’s what’s so charming about a lot of music from the ’80s and ’90s. It really feels like you can feel the artist’s fingerprints on the record.

And also I think back then people, at least the bands that I like, people just really cared about really catchy melodies. And obviously there’s bands now that do that, but I feel like there was a lot of bands that were influenced even by ’60s stuff and melodic rock ‘n’ roll from that era, and then recontextualized in the ’90s.

How do you get linked up with Kai?

WOLFHARD: I met Kai through Cadien Lake James, who is my really good friend. He also worked on the record and co-produced the song, And he was in Twin Peaks, the band, and he said, “Oh, you have to meet this kid named Kai. He’s super prolific and amazing, and I think you guys would get along really well.” So he introduced me to Kai. I saw Lifeguard play at an in-store and we just became good friends. And then I heard Sharp Pins, and it blew me away. It was like the thing that kind of kicked me into the next chapter in my music career. Because I really heard something in it that I hadn’t heard in music in a long time. It really inspired me. And so I had all these songs and just asked Kai if he’d want to help me record them. He’s amazing.

I actually interviewed Cadien for a Twin Peaks Band To Watch article way back in 2014.

WOLFHARD: Wow, that’s crazy. Yeah, that’s a great band, and he’s done good stuff outside the band too, obviously.

Touring With The Slaps As His Backing Band (2025)

So another connection to Chicago is you have the Slaps. They’re gonna be your backing band. Was that connection forged through that same community of people?

WOLFHARD: I’ve known them for years through the Atlanta scene, actually. Because I have these good friends, Lunar Vacation, who are a band that are touring right now and have a new record out, and the Slaps and Lunar used to tour a lot together. So I’d hear a lot about the Slaps from Lunar, and then eventually met Rand and all the guys because Maggie and Rand are close. And Rand, the lead singer of the Slaps, lives in Atlanta as well. So they’re sort of a Chicago/Atlanta outfit now. But they’re incredible, and they’re making music that is so unique. I don’t know any band that’s making music like them right now.

Yeah, that album is really something.

WOLFHARD: Mudglimmer, yeah. It feels like the best way to describe that record is it feels like a record you would find like 20 years in the future in some bargain bin, like, “What is this?” And then you like start listening to it, and it’s like, “Whoa.” Weirdly, it’s like jazzy and cool, but it’s also industrial and I’ve never heard anything like it. So I love that album, love those guys.

Have you guys rehearsed the material yet together? I’m wondering if taking it into that live context with a different set of musicians is transforming the songs at all.

WOLFHARD: Totally. I played in a different iteration of this with the same people last year, except everyone was kind of switched around, so Gep was on bass and Rand, who’s usually a guitar player, played drums, and Kai played guitar. Kai will be on on tour with Lifeguard, so he can’t be there. But Josh is gonna play drums. Ramsey’s gonna play guitar and keys. But we start rehearsing in like May, and I’m really excited because those guys are such incredible musicians. They’re so funny, and I think that they’re very innovative and original, and so I think that they’re gonna bring something really, really cool to the band. I think like my goal for the shows are just to be super rocking and [to] really sound big, like an old-school rock concert. Like I’m trying to get an old Vistaline kit and big amps and cabs and stuff like that. Obviously the record is lo-fi, keep that kind of same vibe, but also crank it up a few pegs and make it sound a little bigger.

Directing Lunar Vacation’s “Set The Stage” Video (2024)

You met the Slaps through Lunar Vacation. How’d you meet Lunar Vacation?

WOLFHARD: Back with my first band, Calpurnia, we would play one-off shows and have people open for us sometimes, and I always wanted to pick the band to open for us. Because sometimes the venue picks it or the booker picks it, and you don’t end up being very happy with the opener. So I wanted to kind of handpick it. And so I did a bunch of research just on like Bandcamp and on who were younger bands in the scene in Atlanta because we were playing a show in Atlanta. And then I found a radio session of Lunar playing, and I fell in love with their music Gep the lead singer’s voice. So I just DMed them on Instagram and asked them to open, and they opened for us, I think, the day after they graduated high school. And we toured together with Calpurnia, like around Texas and California, and I’ve been close friends with them ever since.

This video involves a decent amount of choreography. How did the concept come together?

WOLFHARD: It came together pretty last-minute. I think the band had like a specific window of time that they could do a video for it, and I was in Atlanta at the time, and I had expressed interest in doing a video for them in the past. And they were just like, “Hey, we have some time to do a video, would you want to come down and do one?”

I’d always wanted to do a video with dance involved in it, and Ben Walkin, who’s the bassist of Lunar, his sister Alana is a ballet dancer and a choreographer. And so we worked with her. She listened to the song and basically created the entire dance. It was just something that I always wanted to do with a dance video. And then to incorporate Gep into it as well was very fun, and to have them all dance together was great as well.

But yeah, the idea of shooting something on film and shooting it in this kind of black void was really, really fun, kind of like this liminal space. I’d just been wanting to do a video for them for a while, so it’s really cool that we got to do it.

Appearing PUP’s Videos For “Guilt Trip” (2014) And “Sleep In The Heat” (2016)

You played a fictionalized young version of PUP frontman Stefan Babcock in “Guilt Trip” and “Sleep In The Heat.” The “Guilt Trip” one is so intense. You’re threatening people with razor blades and shooting a cop with his own gun. How did that come about?

WOLFHARD: I love talking about those videos. I love that band so much, too. I saw them play recently and they’re just amazing. But yeah, that came in because it was an open casting call, I’m pretty sure in Vancouver, and at the time I was performing in local theater and stuff like that, and student films. So it came through, I think through some email or some website, and we went and I met Jeremy [Schaulin-Rioux] and Chandler [Levack], who were the directors. And Jeremy’s directed most of their videos since.

Chandler’s an amazing writer in her own regard and has had a feature come out a few years ago called I Like Movies. They just wanted kids that semi looked like the band and also kind of knew how to play the instruments because at the end, [there’s] this scene where we’re playing, and they just wanted it to seem semi-authentic.

I went in and talked to them about it, and they just basically were saying it’s like a Stand By Me thing. And I really like Stand By Me. And they were saying that, “You kind of play this evil bully character,” and I was really excited for that because I’m obviously so not that, but I love playing characters like that and had a really fun time doing that.

It was real, like, indie shit. We were working long-ass days as little kids. Our parents were on set. It was raining, like sleeting, because we were up in Squamish in BC and it was in the winter, so it was cold. It was definitely an adventure. And at the time, I was having the greatest time in the world. I was just like, “Oh, this is what I wanna do. I wanna be on set with my friends, making stuff.” So that was a really young age, and that’s also how I met Malcolm, who played the young Zack [Mykula] in the video. Because he was also acting in Vancouver. And then he was like my first friend that I met who actually played another instrument. And he played drums, so both of us started just being friends. We started two bands together and are still best friends. So it started a long, long relationship together.

Then they called you guys back for a second video.

WOLFHARD: I love Jeremy so much. The guy who directed it, I think he’s a genius, and to be able to go back and do that again was really fun.

Starring As Young Rivers Cuomo In Weezer’s “Take On Me” Video (2019)

You played the young Rivers Cuomo as well. I guess everybody just wants you to play the the child the versions of themselves. You had previously done Weezer on Lip Sync Battle, so obviously, you were a Weezer fan before this.

WOLFHARD: Yeah, I love Weezer. Specifically Blue Album and Pinkerton were such huge records for me growing up and I still go back to them and love them.

Did you get any notes about how Rivers would act?

WOLFHARD: I’ve actually never met those guys. They weren’t around when we when we did the video. But no, I didn’t get really any notes on how to play him. But it was cool to be able to be a part of their legacy.

You did that benefit concert for Sweet Relief several years ago. How did you get involved with that organization?

WOLFHARD: I think I got involved because they had reached out through my manager and asked if I wanted to be involved in a charity event. I sort of just jumped into it, and it was really fun. It was basically like planning your own festival. You got to get a bunch of bands together, and all of them to play these ’80s covers. And sometimes we cheated. We didn’t even play a lot of ’80s stuff. I guess we played two ’80s songs, and then we played actually a Pinkerton song, which is funny. I was like, “Oh, we’re breaking the rules. I’m hosting, I don’t care.” But it was great. I remember Tenacious D played and that was really cool. It was a great night. That was Calpurnia’s first show.

Oh really?

WOLFHARD: Yeah. Because I was hosting it, I realized that I also had to play and have a band, and I knew Malcolm already. Malcolm and I were friends, and my friend Ayla [Tesler-Mabe], we would play together. We just needed a bassist, and Ayla brought in her friend Jack [Anderson] from high school. We went and just played that one show, and then we just kept making music together for fun in Vancouver, and then ended up getting a record deal pretty soon after that.

Writing Original Songs For His Musician Character In Jesse Eisenberg’s When You Finish Saving The World (2023)

WOLFHARD: I was involved with performing the music in that movie and had a tiny hand in adding some stuff to some already existing songs that Emile [Mosseri], the composer, and Jesse Eisenberg, who wrote and directed the movie, had written. I was let in on this collaborative process, which is really cool. I wrote one of the songs in the movie, and it was really cool to be able to be involved in that way.

Do you seek out acting roles where you get to be a musician or do music?

WOLFHARD: Dude, I’d love to. It’s not like I’m trying to seek it out just because I think those parts are just so rare. But yeah, any time I get to blend the two, I think it’s so fun. Because my favorite movies growing up were the Beatles movies like Help! and Hard Day’s Night and all that stuff. I just remember being like, “Oh, it’s so cool that they get to be playing their album and having these built-in music videos, but they’re also funny and great actors.” That was always something that I really loved. So yeah, anytime I get to get to play music and be onscreen at the same time, it’s really fun.

Friendship With Stranger Things Costar And Fellow Musician Joe Keery (Djo)

Simultaneously with this album rollout for you, Joe Keery’s doing a new album rollout. It seems like you guys have been on kind of parallel paths in terms of like doing the actor-musician thing and taking on some music-oriented roles. Did you guys connect over music on set over the years?

WOLFHARD: Yeah, definitely. Joe’s been a gigantic influence on me ever since I met him. When he joined Stranger Things, he was still in Post Animal, and so I remember hearing their EP as a 12-year-old kid. And then he’s actually the person that introduced me to the Chicago scene, so that’s why I know Cadien and any of the guys from Twin Peaks is because of Joe.

So he’s hugely influential to me. He’s always been super supportive, and showed me great music. And he’s very collaborative, so once in a while, he would send something and ask for my opinion. He’s like that with so many of his friends. He’s very generous in that way and very open. And then, vice versa, I’ll just send him something and ask what he thinks about it, what he would do, or get advice from him. So he’s always been a super close person in my life and definitely a mentor figure.

Rapping In The Golden Globes Intro And Performing Motown Songs On Corden (2017)

Back in the early Stranger Things days, the kids in the cast were often brought in to do these little bits and segments on late night and stuff. There was one for the Golden Globes where you guys were rapping, and then there was a thing with James Corden where there were old Motown songs. I was wondering what that experience was like.

WOLFHARD: That was back when I thought I couldn’t say no to stuff. But yeah, the Golden Globes, I’m glad I wasn’t there for the — oh no, you know what, I totally did rap for the fucking Golden Globes.

You said like two words. It was mostly Millie doing the heavy lifting.

WOLFHARD: Yeah, I mean, we were kids. And I remember it being pretty cool that we were involved in all this stuff because the show did feel like — we really did come out of nowhere. So it was pretty cool to be able to be a part of these really big crazy Hollywood-y things because none of us were from that world at all. And, yeah, it was nuts. Someone just talked about the James Corden Motown thing to me yesterday, and I just cringed. But I don’t regret doing any of that stuff.

Covering Mac DeMarco And Then Performing With Mac DeMarco

What’s he like? He seems kind of weird and fun.

WOLFHARD: He’s exactly both those things, he is weird and fun. And I’ve actually been in closer contact with him in the last year, and he’s doing really well, it seems. He’s been going back and forth from LA to Canada a lot more. So I’ve seen him a few times back home in Vancouver and in Canada, and he looks very healthy. There was a few years where he was on the road partying hard, and I saw him fairly recently and he was, like, glowing. He looks so healthy and good. But yeah, he’s a total weirdo and but so funny and unbelievably sweet.

We did this festival out in Hamilton, Ontario, where we were on right before Mac DeMarco. It was super fun and crazy. I walked offstage, and Mac was just there. I would just walk directly into his arms, and he just hugged me, and I was like, “This is the craziest thing that’s ever happened to me.” It felt very, very surreal.

Acting Alongside Weird Al Yankovic In Live Production Of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (2017)

WOLFHARD: I have weirdly met Weird Al a few times since then at like charity events. He’s just the nicest guy and really unassuming, but is a total legend and just has so much history. But that [experience] was awesome. Because I also got to meet and act with Richard Kind, who’s amazing. He’s one of the greatest. So Kind was definitely the high point for me.

It’s cool that Kind is on the John Mulaney show.

WOLFHARD: He’s kind of the perfect co-host or sidekick, actually, when you think about it. He’s so funny and specific. But he’s just famous enough to be a talk show sidekick.

Happy Birthday is out 6/6 via AWAL.